This invention elates to a mechanism for winding wire onto spools and having a traversing guide for guiding the wire onto the spools so that the wire is wound in relatively neat layers, and deals more particularly with such a mechanism capable of being used with spools of the type having two flanges, at least one of which is tapered, and a cylindrical portion of uniform diameter between the two flanges.
In the art of spooling wire, it is well known to rotate the spool so as to draw the wire thereon and to guide the wire onto the spool by a traversing guide which engages the wire and moves back and forth between the flanges of the spool to load the wire onto the spool in an orderly fashion. In many cases, the flanges of the spool have straight faces facing one another so that the stroke of the traversing guide may remain the same throughout the full duration of the winding process. However, in some other cases the spool has one or two tapered flanges requiring that the stroke of the traversing guide increase as the spool fills with wire. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,170,650 and 3,413,834, for example, show two prior mechanisms for winding spools with tapered flanges and which mechanisms include devices for increasing the stroke of the traversing guide as the spool being wound fills with wire.
The general object of this invention is to provide a wire spooler for winding wire onto tapered spools which spooler is an improvement over prior art devices, such as those shown by the aforementioned patents, intended for the same purpose.
A more particular object of the invention is to provide a spooler for winding wire onto tapered flange spools which spooler is of relatively simple construction and which, particularly in regard to the means for moving its traversing guide, is of a simple reliable construction comprised of relatively few moving parts.
Another object of the invention is to provide a spooler of the foregoing character which is extremely versatile insofar as being able to accommodate various different spool sizes and configurations and various different gauges of wire and spooling speeds. In keeping with this object, a further object is to provide a spooler which may be changed from one spool configuration to another and/or from one wire type or gauge to another quickly and easily and without the need for interchanging parts.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a spooling mechanism of the foregoing character and including a means enabling the spool to be wound in such a manner as to provide access to the starting portion of the wire after the spool is fully wound. This feature is of value when the spool is later used to supply wire to a production machine as the wire of the spool currently feeding the machine may be connected to the wire of the next spool, as by welding, so that when the current spool is emptied, the feed is transferred immediately to the next spool without need for stopping the production machine.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and from the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof.